[url=http://www.falconsahl.com/detpages/pressbox3137.shtml]According to FalconsAHL.com[/url], goaltender [url=jonathan-boutin]Jonathan Boutin[/url] and defenseman Geoff Waugh were reassigned to Johnstown of the ECHL following Springfield's victory tonight against Lowell. Boutin has not seen game action thus far in the regular season with Sean Burke in Springfield and Waugh has been struggling with work visa issues.

[url=karri-ramo]Karri Ramo[/url] gets his first professional win in style.
SPR-3
BRI-0
[url=karri-ramo]Karri Ramo[/url] weathered the Falcons getting outshot 27-17 in the first two periods and ended up stopping 34 of 34 in the game for the shutout and his first professional win in North America. [url=norm-milley]Norm Milley[/url] led the way offensively with a pair of goals while Eric Healey had two helpers in the game. Zdenek Blatny had the Falcons' other goal while individual helpers went to [url=blair-jones]Blair Jones[/url], Jared Aulin and [url=marek-kvapil]Marek Kvapil[/url].
But the day ultimately belong to the 20 year old wunderkind Ramo, who held his no doubt tired team even in the game in their third contest in three nights giving veterans like Milley and Blatny the opportunity they needed to steal a critical two points. 2-4-0 isn't a great record, but it looks a lot better than 1-5-0 in a weekend where the Falcons had already lost two close games in the third period.
Your three stars: 1. Ramo, 2. Milley, 3. Blatny.
Game sheet from [url=http://stats.theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1002303]TheAHL.com[/url].

Steve Stirling's got to coach up these young men to win some of these one goal games.
BIN-4
SPR-3
Sean Burke stopped 30 of 34 in the loss. Eric Healey had a goal and an assist for Falcons and [url=blair-jones]Blair Jones[/url] and [url=norm-milley]Norm Milley[/url] each had a pair of assists. Zdenek Blatny and Andy Delmore had Springfield's other goals while [url=justin-keller]Justin Keller[/url] had an individual helper.
Game sheet from [url=http://stats.theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1002299]TheAHL.com[/url].

Bolt Prospects will be watching tonight's Falcons home opener on B2 Networks and liveblogging some game notes during the intermissions. Tonight's game sets up as a critical one of several levels. First, with Ryan Craig now out for a month with a knee sprain, several Falcons forwards will be attempting to make a good impression for the organization and earn a callup. For the Lightning/Falcons organization, whatever goodwill Springfield fans had for their new affiliation has all but dried up after two years of struggling and after last weekend's debacle in Norfolk the natives are definitely restless. For Head Coach Steve Stirling, this is the first major test of his leadership as the Falcons' bench boss. After skating his team hard on Tuesday and Wednesday to punish them for their poor play last weekend, will the young Falcons respond? And, finally, there are several subplots for the Lightning's young prospects. Will [url=karri-ramo]Karri Ramo[/url] rebound from a tough weekend and settle into the team's starting role? Will [url=marek-kvapil]Marek Kvapil[/url] respond to his healthy scratch in Norfolk and start to lead the Falcons offense as was expected at the start of the year? Will the Falcons young defensemen like [url=mike-egener]Mike Egener[/url], [url=matt-smaby]Matt Smaby[/url] and [url=andy-rogers]Andy Rogers[/url] tighten up their play after looking like the Keystone Cops in Norfolk? It's a critical three game weekend set, and anything less than a couple of wins will be a huge disappointment.
[b]Starting Lineup:[/b]
Blatny/Jones/Milley
Rogers/Delmore
Ramo
MAN-4
SPR-2 Final
[b]First Period[/b]
1. MAN- Murphy, (Pushkarev)(PP)
2. SPR- Aulin, (Kvapil, O'Brien)(PP)
[b]Second Period[/b]
3. SPR- Blatny, (Delmore, Milley)
4. MAN- Jackman, (Kemp, Harrold)(PP)
[b]Third Period[/b]
5. MAN- Kanko, (Harrold)
6. MAN- Murphy, Clarke(EN)

John Tortorella wasn't the only coach skating his team hard in practice last week as punishment for a poor performance. [url=http://www.masslive.com/falcons/republican/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1161299402195610.xml&coll=1]According to Garry Brown's column in the Springfield Republican[/url], Steve Stirling held similarly brutal practices Tuesday [i]and[/i] Wednesday after the Falcons' abysmal performance in the final four periods of their two game road trip to Norfolk last weekend. According to Coach Stirling the move came as a reaction to a lack of effort on the Falcons' part. Brown writes, "Stirling said he thought he knew how poorly the team played in Norfolk, but when he looked at the video, it was even worse."
Springfield's home opener is tonight against Manchester and is the start of a three game in three night weekend stretch that includes Binghampton Saturday and Bridgeport on Sunday. [url=karri-ramo]Karri Ramo[/url] is expected to get the start tonight and Sunday.

A Springfield Falcons press release was issued stating Adam Henrich and Zbynek Hrdel have been reassigned to ECHL Johnstown.
Henrich was in the Falcons lineup for their season opening, 3-2 win, over the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday, October 7, but didnâ€™t register a point. The 6-foot-4, 238-pound native of Thornhill, Ontario split the 2005-06 season between Springfield and Johnstown recording 18 goals and 26 assists for 44 points in 63 games shared between the Falcons and Chiefs.
Hrdel also was in the Falconsâ€™ opening night lineup, but was a healthy scratch for both games against the Norfolk Admirals this past weekend. Hrdel also shared time in both Springfield and Johnstown last season collecting 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points in 61 total games split between the Falcons and Chiefs.

Ouch.
SPR-1
NOR-8
Sean Burke allowed 5 goals on 14 shots for the loss before being lifted for [url=karri-ramo]Karri Ramo[/url] who allowed 3 on 17. Jared Aulin scored the lone Falcons goal. [url=marek-kvapil]Marek Kvapil[/url] was a scratch for Springfield.
It should also be noted Ramo got multiple penalties for leaving the crease and initiating a fight with Admirals goaltender Sebastien Caron in a bloody and fight marred third period.
Game sheet from [url=http://stats.theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1002266]TheAHL.com.[/url]
Following this disasterous effort I expect some changes might be made before next weekend's batch of game. It was already a likelihood that some of the lower line/healthy scratches like [url=andre-deveaux]Deveaux[/url], [url=adam-henrich]Henrich[/url] or [url=zbynek-hrdel]Hrdel[/url] might be on their way down for Johnstown's opener, but given the strong play of [url=stanislav-lascek]Lascek[/url] and [url=radek-smolenak]Smolenak[/url] in the Chiefs' preseason games this weekend, now might be the time for Springfield to entertain more wholesale changes.

Third period collapse drops the Falcons to 1-1.
SPR-3
NOR-6
[url=karri-ramo]Karri Ramo[/url] allowed 4 goals in the span of 3:45 in the third period as the Falcons imploded in their second game of the season. Ramo stopped 28 of 34 shots faced in the loss. Eric Healey led the way offensively for the Falcons scoring two goals while rookie [url=blair-jones]Blair Jones[/url] added 2 assists in the game. Zdenek Blatny scored the team's other goal, on the power play, while Jared Aulin and [url=doug-obrien]Doug O'Brien[/url] had individual helpers.
Game sheet from [url=http://stats.theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1002252]TheAHL.com[/url].

Blatny got his work visa and will be in the lineup for both Falcons games vs. Norfolk tonight and tommorow.
Burke will start one game, Ramo will start one game. Boutin is still nursing an injury.
Darren Reid will also be back in the lineup after an early send down due to a groin injury.
The Falcons had good practices this week and left for Virginia on Thursday.
Defensemen Sylvain Dufresne is still awaiting word on his work visa, but it should be here within the next 72 business hours at the most.
Falcons play the Norfolk Admirals tonight and Saturday with both games starting at 7:15p EST